In this weekly article, Ryan Ramsarran uses the Advanced Stat Explorer and other RotoViz tools to dive deep into wide receiver usage trends. Usage is key for making waiver wire adds, start/sit decisions, and finding the next blow-up WR in DFS.
Week 14 is in the books, and we are gearing up for the fantasy football playoffs. Like always, the NFL had its usual amount of craziness. Injuries, blowouts, tremendous performances, you name it:
- San Francisco beats Tampa Bay 35-7 in rookie quarterback Brock Purdy’s debut
- Justin Jefferson finishes with 223 receiving yards against the Lions
- The Panthers stunned the Seahawks, beating them 30 – 24
- Kyler Murray had his season end with an unfortunate ACL tear
- and much more.
Before we get into it, let’s take a look at one of the best catches of Week 14:
DAVANTE ADAMS ARE YOU KIDDING ME?! 🤯
(via @nfl)pic.twitter.com/CDvbnml6uq
— Bleacher Report (@BleacherReport) December 9, 2022
Routes Run and Routes per Target
Routes run is the first key statistic I’ll focus on because WRs need to be on the field to produce. The second statistic is routes per target. Unlike RB usage, targets are earned as a WR and routes per target is a helpful measure in figuring out which players are good (or which players coaches want to get the ball to).
*Routes for Monday’s game are not included